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Merope Mills awarded CBE in king’s honours list for Martha’s rule campaign

Journalist and healthcare campaigner was driving force behind patient safety initiative after death of 13-year-old daughter

The healthcare campaigner and journalist Merope Mills has been made a CBE in the king’s birthday honours list for services to patient safety.

Mills, a senior editor at the Guardian, was a driving force behind the introduction of an initiative in England said to have potentially saved hundreds of lives. She has spent years campaigning for the introduction of Martha’s rule under which patients, relatives and staff can seek a second opinion if they have concerns about the care being provided.

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© Photograph: Courtesy of Merope Mills

© Photograph: Courtesy of Merope Mills

© Photograph: Courtesy of Merope Mills

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Autistic children injected with unapproved stem cell treatments supported by RFK Jr

Desperate US parents pay up to $20,000 a session for a procedure scientists say could be bogus

Autistic children as young as 18 months old are being injected with human stem cells derived from umbilical cords in unapproved, unproven and potentially harmful “treatments” that scientists warn are proliferating across the US under the active encouragement of the US health secretary, Robert F Kennedy Jr.

Clinics in Florida, Texas and other states are selling what they bill as “regenerative medicine” to families with autistic children who have intensive care needs. Parents who have taken their children through the process talked to the Guardian about their hopes and fears for a therapy that appears to be gaining ground in the US.

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© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images/Alamy

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images/Alamy

© Composite: The Guardian/Getty Images/Alamy

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Nearly 3,000 NHS patients a day receiving corridor care in England, figures show

Published for the first time, the data recorded 2,241 daily cases of A&E corridor care, with 699 patients also treated in other inappropriate settings

Almost 3,000 patients a day in England are receiving care in hospital corridors due to an unavailability of beds in A&E units across the country, according to official figures.

Corridor care occurs when a patient receives treatment in a setting that is clinically inappropriate and is deemed to be undignified and unsafe.

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© Photograph: Lankowsky/Alamy

© Photograph: Lankowsky/Alamy

© Photograph: Lankowsky/Alamy

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